The USSR Cinema-Atlas: 'Birobidzhan' by Mikhail Slutsky

At the turn of the 1920s to the 1930s, the production of so-called 'culturfilms' developed in the Soviet Union. These films showcased the country's constituent nationalities and territories and were popular with a wide audience. The production, though, had a political aspect to it, as cinematography was used by the authorities as an effective mass medium to inform the public about state programmes to colonize the country's regions. It is no coincidence that during this period an unprecedented project such as the 'Cinema-Atlas of the USSR' was launched on the initiative of the Party's Central Committee. The project was meant to bring together scientists and cinema specialists to create a film series of 150 episodes, dedicated to the historical traditions and Sovietization of the country's center and periphery. Developed as an ideologically inspired 'film manual', the series were to be subsequently introduced to and used in the Soviet education system. Leading Soviet film studios got involved in a socialist-style competition, aiming to organize longest possible film expeditions to the farthest corners of the USSR and fulfilling the ministerial task of collecting materials to construct on screen an image of a multinational and progressive socialist country. Drawing on the film 'Birobidzhan' (1934) by Mikhail Slutsky, a well-known figure in the Soviet cinematography, the article examines the format of documentary propaganda films that is fully consistent with the vision behind the Soviet 'Cinema-Atlas'. Focused on Jewish colonists in the Far East territories, the film was shot to present the successful resettlement efforts of the Society for Settling Working Jews on the Land (OZET), and its release was dedicated to the formation of the Jewish Autonomous Region with the administrative centre in the city of Birobidzhan. Comparative analysis of the film and archival materials on the context of its creation, recollections of the film shooting team members and other contemporaries allow us to trace the development of this cinematographic project in relation to the then Soviet politics, science, and culture. Finally, conclusions are drawn as to the potential of using this Soviet documentary as a multicomponent historical source of great research value for visual anthropology and the humanities.

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